6 WWE Superstars who were eliminated too soon in the Royal Rumble

The WWE Royal Rumble PPV was quite good and both Royal Rumble matches were definite highlights of the show, especially the men's match.

However, we felt that a number of Superstars did not get enough time in the Royal Rumble matches to showcase what they could do.

Here are some of the Superstars who were eliminated too early.

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#6 Braun Strowman

Braun Strowman had a disappointing Royal Rumble match

We start off our list with 'The Monster Among Men' Braun Strowman. To be fair, Keith Lee could have easily been in this list too so we'll give him an honourary mention.

Strowman entered the Rumble at #14, following Keith Lee who was in at #13. Brock Lesnar had been totally dominant until this point, getting 11 eliminations. Strowman barely got much offense in on Lesnar or Lee, before Strowman and Lee decided to brawl with each other instead of focusing on the biggest threat of the match, Brock Lesnar.

Lesnar capitalized and eliminated both Strowman and Keith Lee in a dumb babyface moment. Strowman ended this Rumble with 0 eliminations to his name.

#5 John Morrison

John Morrison made his return to WWE a few weeks ago and fans expected big things from the former Intercontinental Champion. This was Morrison's return to WWE for the first time since 2011, having spent the inbetween years at Impact Wrestling and Lucha Underground amongst other promotions.

Instead of showing fans why they should care about John Morrison, he was jobbed out at the Royal Rumble and eaten alive by Brock Lesnar.

After making his entrance at the Royal Rumble at #5, he was laughed at by Lesnar as 'The Beast' uncermoniously tossed him out of the ring. Morrison was in the ring for under a minute.

#4 Matt Riddle

One of the Superstars who had an especially disappointing appearance at the WWE Royal Rumble was the 'Ultimate Bro' Matt Riddle. Riddle entered the Royal Rumble at #23 and dished out a number of kicks to Edge and Baron Corbin amongst others.

Riddle then got a little more offense out before Baron Corbin grabbed him by the neck and tossed him over the top rope without much fanfare.

For someone of Riddle's caliber, who has impressed in NXT and did similarly with his performance at Survivor Series, this came as a disappointing surprise.

Before the Royal Rumble, there were rumors of a backstage bust-up between Riddle and 'The Beast' Brock Lesnar. We don't know if this had anything to do with how Riddle was booked. This was reported by Pro Wrestling Sheet. Here's what their report said:

Pro Wrestling Sheet has learned Brock Lesnar and Matt Riddle got into a backstage verbal altercation prior to Royal Rumble.

Details are scarce at this time, but sources tell us Lesnar and Riddle passed each other while walking backstage and a tense encounter ensued. One source says Brock saw Matt and wanted him to know the reality of the situation between them.

#3 Liv Morgan

The women's Royal Rumble saw Charlotte Flair win it all and book her date at WrestleMania. The match itself did not disappoint as a whole but we are still surprised at how WWE is booking Liv Morgan.

Lana came out for the Royal Rumble at the #5 spot and was followed out by Morgan at #7. Morgan did manage to get herself an elimination when she eliminated Lana, making her the first person eliminated from this year's women's Royal Rumble.

However, Morgan then slowly climbed to the top rope. Meanwhile, Lana climbed onto the apron and pulled Liv Morgan off the top turnbuckle, eliminating her.

Even though WWE took Liv Morgan off television for so long in the middle to repackage her, they have done surprisingly little to book her strong and get her over with fans since her return during the Lashley-Lana wedding segment.

Her underwhelming return only continued at tonight's Royal Rumble. WWE could have kept her in the match for a little longer instead of having Lana take her out immediately.

#2 Shinsuke Nakamura

We move on to the WWE Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura. Nakamura entered the Rumble at #11 with Brock Lesnar in the middle of his rampage. Lesnar and Nakamura have a history in Japan already but let's not get into that or how it should have led to Nakamura being more competitive.

This is because Nakamura has already done enough in WWE already, not to mention that he is the current IC Champion, to not have been treated like enhancement talent who was unceremoniously tossed out by Lesnar in under a minute. We understand that all this was done to make Drew McIntyre look good when he eliminated Brock Lesnar but having the Intercontinental Champion treated like that hurts the prestige of the title.

WWE could have easily avoided this by having Nakamura enter the Royal Rumble match in a later spot. His spot could have easily have been taken by someone like Dolph Ziggler, Karl Anderson or Luke Gallows. We will have to wait and see what plans WWE have for the IC Champion in the near future.

#1 AJ Styles

AJ Styles' performance in the Royal Rumble was disappointing and he got no eliminations

AJ Styles has been one of the top stars in the WWE since his debut at the 2016 Royal Rumble but tonight was not his night.

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This is the man who carried the SmackDown brand on his back after the brand split, becoming a multiple-time WWE Champion along the way and also beating the likes of John Cena in singles action.

However, he wasn't booked to look strong at all in the 2020 Royal Rumble.

Entering the match at #17, Styles didn't really have an impact on the match. He was only in the match for a matter of minutes before he was chucked over the top rope by the returning WWE Hall of Famer Edge. This was even stranger because WWE usually do such a good job of making AJ Styles look strong.

WWE Royal Rumble 2020 Results, January 26th, Royal Rumble Winners, video highlights

Edited by Nishant Jayaram